This blog was originally for a walking and hitch-hiking trip down the east coast of Taiwan, but that's over, and this is no longer a literal walk anymore. I'm back in the U.S. and taking a figurative walk in Colorado. Posts about Taiwan are toward the end. Hope ya dig it. Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, January 5, 2009

6 Months in the Wild West

1/3/09

It's been about a year since I last wrote in this blog. I'll change the title of it soon, but I can't figure out how right now. Anyway, the Taiwan trip finished well, and I made a radio documentary about it, and hope to upload it on the Web soon. No promises when.

Since the walk, I've graduated university and I live in Paonia, Colorado now -- for the next six months, unless I get fired or something...or if elk hoove me to death... or if I get stuck in an avalanche. I brought 88 pounds of my old life into my new life out here. Most of it was clothes. Regular clothes, work clothes, hiking clothes, etc.I'll be interning at an environmental news magazine called High Country News. Check it out: hcn.org.

My trip out here was fun. I flew into Denver, and stayed with friends of a friend. Thanks Davey, Nick, and Ira! The next morning, I caught the Greyhound to Glenwood Springs, which is further West -- on the Western Slope of the Rockies, in fact. On the bus, I chatted with a lad named Karl from New Zealand. He'd been traveling for some time now and attributes it to avoiding living in one place for too long. As we chatted, I looked across the isle and saw a woman clutching a book about pregnancy. She was reading about Month 5. She also had a pack of Marlbloro Reds in her pocket. I hope she wasn't pregnant, and I hope she was just reading the book for shits and giggles. Or maybe she was a Med student. I doubt a Med student would smoke Marlboro Reds though.

Took two more public buses to get me to the other side of town, and then I tried hitchhiking for more than an hour, but not a single car offered a ride. I thought it'd be relatively easy in Colorado, but I guess I'm wrong. It was nighttime though, so maybe that was a factor. I called my roommate in relative desperation. He drove an hour and a half to pick me up, and I'm grateful. I just wanted to be in my warm future house.

After failed hitchhiking, I went shopping.

Well, I'm here now (but I'm also writing this in the future, like a few days later. whatever). It's beautiful here.